Marquette Boys Continue D1 Dominance
By
John Vrancic
Special for MHSAA.com
March 1, 2016
MARQUETTE — It was a great day to be a member of the Marquette ski program Monday, as both team won MHSAA Division 1 championships at Marquette Mountain.
The Marquette boys turned in a dominating performance with 22 points, followed by Traverse City Central with 90 and Bloomfield Hills with 135.
Marquette, which earned its fourth straight championship, grabbed the top four places in slalom and top three spots in giant slalom on a sunny, but chilly and windy day.
“Everybody had to finish together,” Marquette coach Marty Paulsen said. “For the girls, this was probably their strongest performance as a team all year. The boys have been solid all year. Our junior (developmental) programs have coaches who start grooming these kids in elementary school. We also have supportive parents who drive their kids all over for ski tournaments, buy the equipment and pay for coaches, which is a big commitment for them.”
Junior Brad Seaborg captured the boys individual title in slalom in one minute, 11.3 seconds, followed by senior Joe Weber (1:12.49) and teammates Drew Thomas (1:14.16) and Adam Skendzel (1:14.37).
“We’ve been training for this all year and had good preparation for today,” Seaborg said. “We spent the past week training on this hill and have been very focused in practice all year. This was a great meet. The conditions were brutal this morning. The wind was very strong. I made sure I stayed low. In giant slalom, I think I did some of my best skiing all year.
“We had a good day as a team, and Joe had a great day. Joe and I have gone back and forth all year.”
Weber won the giant slalom in 57.54 seconds, followed by Seaborg (58.4) and Thomas (58.8) and Central’s Lars Hornburg (59.51).
“As a team we came out here to execute,” said Weber, who will attend University of Michigan this fall. “We performed the way we knew we could. There was a lot of wind out here today, but you really have to go for it. You can’t hold back. We have a lot of competition in practice, which helps a lot. We’re going at it every day, trying to win. It has been my goal for the last four years to help keep the title in Marquette.”
The Marquette boys have captured 11 MHSAA titles overall. Traverse City Central finished second for the third straight season.
PHOTOS: (Top) Marquette’s Brad Seaborg speeds downhill on the way to winning the slalom championship Monday. (Middle) Teammate Joe Weber cuts past a gate on the way to winning the giant slalom. (Click for more from HighSchoolSportsScene.com.)
Lewandowski Sweep Paces TC West Boys' 3rd-Straight Championship Run
By
James Cook
Special for MHSAA.com
February 27, 2023
BELLAIRE – Dubs turned into trips, which could become quads.
Traverse City West won its third straight Division 1 boys skiing championship Monday at Schuss Mountain in Bellaire.
Titans junior Caleb Lewandowski won both the slalom and giant slalom, his third individual Finals crowns and his family's fourth (his older brother Aiden won the 2021 GS title), and next year three younger brothers who are part of quadruplets will join the West program as freshmen as well.
The Titans girls edged Central as well at their Division 1 Finals on Monday, making West just the sixth school to win boys and girls skiing state titles in the same year, joining TC Central, Petoskey, Cadillac, Harbor Springs and Marquette. Only Central, West and Marquette did that at the Division 1 (or Class A, previously) level.
After the Titans (52) and Traverse City Central (57) boys, Marquette placed third with 106 points, followed by Brighton (167), Clarkston (177), Fenton-Linden-Lake Fenton (194), Birmingham (238), Rochester Adams (256) and Milford (277).
TC West and Central combined for 24 of the 40 first-team all-state spots, including eight of 10 in boys slalom.
"It's exciting just for Traverse City in general to see first and second place from both sides," said West head coach Ed Johnson, who now has six Finals championships, three each for boys and girls. "Obviously, we love to win, but it's really cool to see how many trophies we took home to Traverse City today. It speaks highly of the programs that are going on there right now and the junior programs and the up-and-comers."
Four trophies were handed out Monday — two champions and two runners-up. All went back to Traverse City.
There wasn't much question about it, either. The third-place team resided at least 30 points back on both sides.
"Coming into it, I knew it was a real possibility that we could do it, but everything had to come together at the right time," Johnson said. "We've been working on getting the kids to peak at the right time in the season, and it's worked out pretty well."
"For a second year in a row we have shown the state how strong our skiing is here in Traverse City," said Central head coach Amy Kudary, who led the Trojans to back-to-back girls titles in 2021 and 2022. "That’s something we can all be proud of.”
Luke Wiersema's first slalom run wasn't great. The TC West junior hiked after missing a gate and still managed to sit in 22nd place. Then his second run was the third-fastest to move him all the way up to ninth place and a first-team all-state finish.
That move essentially boosted West's score by 13. The Titans won the boys championship by five.
"I just kind of leaned in (too much) and then just had to hike a little bit, but then made it down," Wiersema said. "(The second) was an awesome, surreal run."
Wiersema said the second run was his best of the season.
"Everyone's happy, so it's good," Wiersema said. "We've definitely put in a lot of hard work. Skiing in the rain and when it's 50 degrees, it's been a lot of hard work."
West's boys scored 18 in slalom. For reference, a perfect score in which all four top spots go to the same team would be 10.
Lewandowski also had won the slalom last season as a sophomore.
"It feels amazing," Lewandowski said. "Just to help my team out, helped my boys."
Lewandowski posted three of the day's four fastest times, with Wiersema getting the other one in his second GS run.
"I don't really want to sound cocky, but all of us were wanting to win it really bad," Lewandowski said. "We thought we could. We had a few mess-ups that gave us some pushback, but we fought hard and we came away with it."
The top 10 in giant slalom – who all earn first-team all-state honors – were Lewandowski, Wiersema, Marquette's Sam Dehlin, TC Central's Jace Rowell, Lake Orion's Broden Janczarek, Brighton's Cru Smith, TC Central's Asher Paul, TC West's Isaac Shapiro, TC Central's Didier Ramoie and Flushing's Anthony Trovato.
The top 10 in GS were Lewandowski, Dehlin, Paul, TC West's Ben Schramski, Shapiro, Rowell, Ramoie, Trovato, Wiersema and TC Central's Luke Farella.
PHOTOS (Top) Traverse City West's Caleb Lewandowski approaches a gate during one of his runs Monday. (Middle) The Titans celebrate their championship at Schuss Mountain. (Click for more from Sports in Motion - Division 1.)